A blog that wants to become famous. The blog, not me. I just want a nice car, and some gas money.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Can't stop till you get enough

So the combination of J's laptop given to her by her school and the fact that we now have wireless at home, means that internet can now happen whereever I am. It's great!

So Nick. "Contraceptives are permission to fail." No clue what that means. Fail at what? Life? Not getting AIDS?

So Uganda had a declining prevalence of AIDS. According to Avert.org which is

AVERT is an international HIV and AIDS charity based in the UK, with the aim of AVERTing HIV and AIDS worldwide.

AVERT has a number of overseas projects, helping with the problem of HIV/AIDS in countries where there is a particularly high rate of infection, such as South Africa, or where there is a rapidly increasing rate of infection such as in India.

So I'm going to just assume they are a legit organization and would not make up figures, but some of what I'll quote, especially concerning why AIDS diagnoses dropped, is only theoretical but makes sense. But they say that a possible reason(s) for the decline of AIDS is:

The debate is - why did HIV prevalence in Uganda decline? And how can this decline be replicated?

A declining prevalence indicates a lower proportion of positive people in the population. This could result from a fall in the number of new infections (incidence) or from a rise in the death rate among HIV-positive people, or from a combination of both factors.

So apparently this is under debate. But their approach did work. So how did they do it?

The debate is - why did HIV prevalence in Uganda decline? And how can this decline be replicated?

A declining prevalence indicates a lower proportion of positive people in the population. This could result from a fall in the number of new infections (incidence) or from a rise in the death rate among HIV-positive people, or from a combination of both factors.

The ABC approach:A for Abstain (or Abstinence) which as everyone should know is the only way to be 100% sure that you will not get AIDS or babies or any other STDs.B for Be Faithful. If you do decide to have sex, just have one sexual partner and be exclusive to each other. No sluts of either sex.C for Condom. If you are going to have sex, wrap it up tight! No condom = no sex.

This is all from one website, but just a quick googling of stopping aids uganda came back with links, of which I picked the first two. The second was the AVERT organization. The first was for Human Rights Watch which states

So it seems like the funding of abstinence-only AIDS prevention isn't the best idea (or realistic in my opinion) or the most effective. So I guess we will just have to wait five years to see if the AIDS rate stays as low as it has been in the past few years.

Back to comment responding: "Condoms have a 90% success rate." Yup, and no condom has a 0% success rate. Yes with a little self-control, it is possible to not have sex. But that is also denying that sex is human nature and the majority of the people on the face of this earth have very little desire to not have sex. I just don't think it realistic only give people one option: No sex. That's communism and I won't stand for it. (just kidding, sort of)

So my original post was only referring to making babies, but we can adjust the ABC approach slightly to address both problems.

Babies:A for Abstinence. Not having sex is the only way to not have babies. Period.B for Be faithful. Don't be a slut. Be exclusive to one partner. Don't have sex with total strangers.C for contraceptives. If you are going to have sex, use ANY contraceptive. There are tons, ask a pharmacist or doctor or guidance counselor and be sure to ask how to use it properly.

AIDS and other STDs:A for Abstinence. Not having sex is the only way to not get STDs.B for Be faithful. Avoid sexual intercourse other than with a mutually faithful uninfected partner.C for condom. Use them correctly and consistently.